You never walk alone Ch 2/3

Chapter 2: The clan's pride at stake - Morinaka vs. Myoka.


Ayane's POV.

"Hey! Ayane was it, right?" Ayko called out to her. "I can tell you're strong by the way you battle me, but don't you think we've been playing around for a bit too long? If it was up to me I'd like you to go full-out on me; I know you're a genjutsu-user. So why don't you show me that technique of yours?" Ayane got confused by her provocation. Even though she said it in front of the entire arena and she looked confident, it didn't make sense. 'She could've used this moment to land a surprise attack on me, but she didn't... Is she really that confident?' Ayane thought.

Ayane quickly tried to come up with a technique to crush the Myoka's confidence, but she wasn't planning on using her genjutsu yet. She now knew that's the jutsu she was waiting for and even if she's not familiar with it, she seemed confident enough to be able to dispel it. This only caused Ayane to feel her confidence drop to zero and her panic level to rise. Her genjutsu skills were the only thing she could win this match with and now she wasn't certain of it anymore.

She scanned through the arena rows to find her family. As she found her green haired relatives, she could see how they were all sitting at the tip of their chairs and waiting for her to come into action again. Her brothers were yelling supportive words through the entire arena and her parents gave her the reassuring looks she was hoping for.

When she faced Ayko, she felt confident again and didn't waste any more time on thinking of a jutsu to attack her with. Ayane immediately grabbed some shuriken and threw them at the Myoka. Ayko reflected them with her katana and waited for her to launch another attack. Since she provoked Ayane, she had a smirk on her face and it didn't look like Ayane would be able to wipe it off soon. For a moment Ayane felt how her confidence dropped again, but she couldn't let Ayko notice it. To keep her confidence up she dug into her memory to remember the moves and tactics which gave her the upper hand a while ago.

After recalling every step she had taken so far, she knew she didn't have much of a choice. She only had one option left to win this fight: using her clan jutsu as soon as possible. No matter how confident the Myoka looked, Ayane knew that her genjutsu would wipe away that smirk in no time. But coming at her with the genjutsu right away would be too predictable, so she needed a diversion and that's exactly where she came into action with. Rat - Snake - Tiger. As her fingers formed the signs, all Ayane could think about was: game on.

Ayko's POV:

It seemed, much too her dislike, that the Morinaka-girl  hadn't completely given up yet. In fact the more Ayko observed her the more she noticed how the girl before had calmed down instead of giving in to her provocations. Ayko racked her brain to find out what was it that kept the green haired kunoichi so motivated. As if on cue she traced where her opponent was staring at in the audience; a family of 4 consisting of other green haired people. Probably her parents and brothers. Ayko smirked; she too had a family that was anxiously watching this match unfold and it made her laugh as she thought of her mother panicking at her former antics. She didn't let the other Heiress notice her momentarily distress of why the Morinaka didn't use her ultimate technique right away; maybe it had something to do with the needed amount of chakra. The Myoka Heiress herself knew that she struggled with the same thing most of the time, since a lot of her powerful jutsu's drained her to the bone. At this moment she upheld her poker face, slipping into an unconscious smirk from time to time, trying to gather the strategy that could counter the attack and then end the fight.

 It appeared not to be as simple as she first had thought. Not to mention the Morinaka girl had a habit of being rather unpredictable at times, which put Ayko at a disadvantage at times. The Myoka Heiress dropped her guard for just a moment to find Ayane throwing a load of shuriken her way. Luckily, as if on instinct, she managed to draw Kyuushuu barely in time to deflect all of them. After Ayko's provocation still fleeted in the air it seemed the entire situation had become tense and hesitant. Ayane took her time to search her opponent, not showing signs of attacking right away. It made the black haired teen raise her eyebrow in both relieve as well as surprise, what was this girl up to? Ayko sighed inwardly hoping to get an idea of what was going on in the other girls head. Would she attack or not, or... Was this all a scheme to throw her off? The Myoka became impatient as time passed by as always, she had to restrain herself from making any impulsive moves like she usually would. That proved to hand over the upper hand to her opponent before so she wouldn't let it happen at any cost.

Suddenly Ayane started off by making hand signs that the Myoka Heiress wasn't familiar with. ‘Could it be that she's using her genjutsu?' Ayko smiled a little preparing for the next impact. But then much to everyone's surprise the Morinaka yelled out something else. "Doton: earth flow wave!" the green haired girl screamed throughout the arena. Ayko's eyes grew wide; she had anticipated this girl the wrong way. Could she have been buying time for the big attack? A huge wave of dirt and rocks shot out from the ground leaving Ayane latterly on top.

‘Che, she's stealing my spotlights, huh? Well, no worries. I'm prepared.' The black haired teen gritted a little annoyed by the sudden change of atmosphere. Another load of shuriken and kunai flew in the Myoka's direction, which led to her deflecting them once again. It was then at the same time that the Morinaka cancelled her jutsu creating another dust cloud to leave her adversary blinded once again.

"Well, what do ya know? You're actually using this trick again and here I thought I had a big shot coming!" Ayko grinned mocking her hidden opponent.

Ayane's POV:

Ayane could see Ayko was obviously surprised by her attack. As she waved the signs and yelled out the jutsu's name, a huge earth wave shot out of the ground. Standing on top of it, Ayane had a clear view on where Ayko was standing and prepared herself for her next attack. While grabbing some shuriken and kunai, she sent the wave towards Ayko and threw her weapons. Of course the Myoka deflected them with her katana again, but she never could've expected the next thing that happened.

As Ayko deflected the kunai and shuriken, Ayane cancelled her jutsu and created a huge cloud of dust. Like she expected, the Myoka was thinking she was using the same trick again and made it very clear by yelling it through the entire arena. ‘Perfect, just perfect', Ayane thought before whispering "Earth Dust" with a smirk on her face.

Ayko had been standing there being her annoying, confident self and waited for her to launch her next attack, but that quickly changed. Ayane watched the Myoka turn into a panicking opponent as the genjutsu lasted. ‘Looks like I've finally wiped off that smirk', she thought. ‘You asked me to use my genjutsu, so here it is. Let's see how long you can withstand its effects.'

Even if this was the first time she actually used the clan jutsu in battle, she knew well enough what she could expect of it. When she graduated the academy, her dad started supervising her training and taught her everything about the genjutsu unique to their clan. One of the first things he explained was the different kind of illusions the genjutsu could create. Sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. A genjutsu able to affect all five senses.

Controlling each sense would require a certain level of chakra control. Sight requires the lowest level, taste requires the highest. Genin's are only able to affect sight, jonin's are able to affect taste and everything in between. The user's skills in affecting a sense would also determine the effects. Every sense can be affected in 3 different ways, going from seeing extra opponents to seeing your worst nightmares.

When she started her training as Genin, Ayane was only able to affect her opponent's sight. But that quickly changed as she learned to control her chakra better and trained a lot. Before she knew it, she was at Chuunin level and able to affect not only sight, but also touch and smell. Mastering these senses meant she was ready to enter the Chuunin Exams and reap the benefits of her training by defeating her opponent. And that's exactly what was happening.

Ayane tried not to have any compassion with Ayko since she probably would use her most powerful technique on her too, but she did. She knew what kind of horrible things the girl was going through at the moment and felt guilty. As she looked through the crowd and recognized her dad's face, she remembered their last conversation this morning.

Morinaka compound, 4 hours before the Finals.

"Do you remember that time I used that genjutsu on you while training?" her dad asked. "Of course I do. It was the most horrible experience of my life." Ayane replied. She instantly though back and felt how her body shivered remembering the event.

Her dad wanted her to know what the effect felt like and the only way to do that was by using the technique on her. At first she didn't feel anything. The more time passed, the more she felt like she was dying. Facing her worst nightmares was only the start, but not much later she felt like invisible weapons were fatally wounding her. And to make it even worse, she felt how her lungs were being eaten away by air filled with corrosive acid. No matter how much she tried to ignore it all, she couldn't escape the genjutsu. The moment she felt her last breath slipping through her throat, she collapsed.

As she woke up, her dad was sitting next to her. "This is what it feels like to get caught in our genjutsu? It's horrible." she said while sitting up. "It is indeed a horrible experience to get caught in it, but you have to remember to use it whenever you have the chance. It can save your life." he replied. 

"You told me to use it whenever I have the chance. And that it can save my life." Ayane said. "But how am I supposed to use this in the Finals without feeling like a monster for putting someone through it, only to be promoted?” "Do you think your opponents will feel guilty when using their most powerful technique on you? They won't." her dad said, ignoring his daughter's feelings. "It's going to be a battle to life and death, so you have to use all you've got. Please remember that, Ayane." he continued before taking her hand and squeezing it. "I will."

-----

Seeing her dad's face made her reminded her of promise she made him. After taking a deep breath she got herself to look at Ayko again. The black haired girl stood there, breathing heavily with her hands covering her eyes. At this point her sight wasn't affected that much anymore, but now her touch and smell were getting affected slowly. This only meant that Ayko would soon start to feel like she's suffocating and not long after that, she would scream out and collapse. Or, if she did happen to know a way to get out of the genjutsu - which wasn't the easiest way -, she would use her own unique clan jutsu to defeat Ayane and finally win the battle.

As Ayko suddenly took out her katana, Ayane just stared in disbelieve and knew it was over.

Ayko's POV.

'What a waste of wor-' as soon as Ayko thought that she felt her sight become blurred and unstable. 'What the hell? What's going on?' When she was able to see clearly again she noticed she was surrounded by people she knew very well; the clan-elders, her parents and her brother. They all looked at her with criticizing looks and annoyance. The oldest clan-elder took the first word as the Myoka-heiress shivered in distress.

"Just look at her. Pathetic! And you think you deserve to represent our clan as our future leader? Such a disgrace!" "You're right, I can't believe I supported her. Ayko, you can't even overcome a genjutsu of this level. You're not worthy!" Mazuiko spoke as she stared emotionless at her daughter.  Kaito just nodded in agreement to his wife’s words, but remained silent.

"I've always hated you and your arrogance! Not only were you born with our clan’s birthright, but you also misused your position to make yourself look better. I wish you had never been born! If you hadn't then maybe my life wouldn't have been such a hell. To think I should respect you when you can't even beat your opponent in a tournament like this... Downright disgraceful!" Kami screamed with eyes filled with anger. Ayko felt herself collapse under the weight of their words; on the brink of an emotional breakdown.

"No... I never meant for this happen. I worked so hard to get here! How can you all say that!" she screeched. "I can- I can't just lose here. There's too much at stake for me!" Suddenly they all disappeared from her sight; she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing anything. But before she was able to adjust to the situation she got hit by sharp invisible objects piercing her skin at any possible place. At first it was bearable but the pain became too overwhelming for her to hold out any longer.

'At this rate I could die... What should I do? If only I had been paying more attention to what everyone has been telling me.' the black haired teen realized. She'd been so focused on her jutsu's she forgot to cover for her defenses. 'I've been such an idiot.’ To her horror she concluded that the worst had yet to come. A large pressure building up in her chest; she urged her lungs to pull in air but all she felt was some kind of acid damaging her airways.

'It-it's too m-much... must resist pain.’ and then the reflection of her katana hit her in the eyes. Without thinking she pulled out Kyuushuu and stabbed her right thigh in an instant. To her relieve she was able to breathe again and instead of utter defeat she could taste victory again. Ayko breathed heavily before she pulled herself together to face Ayane for the last time. The green haired girl looked shocked and there was a hint of respect in her eyes. The Myoka-heiress sighed in confusion, but she realized she had to finish things quickly before she would lose her will to fight. Hurriedly she performed the hand signs for the clan-jutsu she'd been working so hard on.

"Kinton: movement strain!" for the first time would she use her kinton technique in battle in front of such a huge audience. The Morinaka-girl blinked in wonder as she suddenly wasn't able to move freely anymore. She eyed her opponent in fear realizing what was going on. Ayko's hands moved like they were pulling invisible strings in the air and with each movement Ayane was forced to step in the black haired teen’s direction.

"Is she a puppet master?" someone from the public asked in surprise.

'Hmm, I guess it does look that way' Ayko noted as she kept moving Ayane over to her. It's not like she wanted to embarrass her enemy, but at this point she was too injured to move herself. Plus Ayko had lost a part of her pride during her time in the genjutsu. 'The basics of this jutsu are the use of the iron in our bloodstream and as a kinton-user I have control over any kind of metal. I'm not strong enough to completely seal her movements right now, so this is the best I can manage. Just a little bit more-' Ayane was only a few feet away from her now, so Ayko boosted her legs with chakra as she moved forward charging her katana at the genjutsu-user. Right before landing her hit she stopped her blade at the green haired girl's throat.

"I won't kill you... That's not the way I do things." she whispered to the girl before her as she released her jutsu. Ayane fell down due to the pressure on her body suddenly being cancelled. She observed the Myoka girl closely before she nodded. "I enjoyed our fight; you did a great job there... It almost cost me everything. I hope we can meet again someday, Ayane."

The loud cheers broke free from the audience as the proctor from the Chuunin finals called out the winner of the match: "The victor is Ayko Myoka of the Myoka-clan!" Ayko straightened her stance as she eyed the public looking at her parents and older brother; they had proud-filled faces as they kept on cheering for her. Before she could turn around to meet her team she got tackled into a hug from Doitei.

"You were awesome, Ay-chan!" he yelled squeezing the air from her lungs. Kyo and Torii-sensei joined them at a slower pace, but obviously enthusiastic about her win. "You did give us a scare there, you know. For a second I thought you weren't going to break free from her attack. Apart from that: congrats with your victory!" Kyo smiled raising his thumb up. Ayko grinned pulling both of her teammates in an embrace.

"I have to thank you baka's for supporting me the entire time; I don't think I would've won without you cheering for me, so thanks!" "You're welcome." they both replied cheerfully. Torii coughed to announce his presence to the oblivious Myoka and managed to smile at her. "I have to say, despite my predictions you really were great out there. And to celebrate your win I'll treat all of you guys to barbeque! Before that, I hope you learned your lesson, Ayko, it's also important to tighten your defenses so you won't be open for attacks like this genjutsu. Maybe next time you won't be so lucky." Torii lectured his student yet again, but there was an undeniable proud smile on his lips.

"You know, sensei, for once I actually felt like I was being praised by you, but on second thought it just sounds like you're back to complaining again. And no, I haven't learned my lesson!" Ayko smirked sticking her tongue out again. "Come on guys, Torii-sensei did say he was treating us!" "HEY! You really didn't learn anything at all, did you?! " Torii nagged hurrying after his students.

On the other side of the stadium Ayane had joined her teammates and family in the audience. She traced the Myoka-heiress and her friends back in the arena also taking their seats. She would definitely remember this match and despite her loss today she felt like she hadn't lost at all. During the match she had given it her all and she felt proud that she was able to show everyone her abilities and will not to give up. So today she would leave with her head held high and a bright smile on her face.

"Thank you, Ayko, for having a great battle like this." she whispered, faintly smiling.